The Matrix is a riddle wrapped inside an enigma, packaged as the wildest, funkiest sci-fi thriller to slink its way onto the big screen since Ridley Scott made a movie about androids. “No one can be told what The Matrix is,” went the publicity blurb. “You have to see it for yourself.”
Welcome to the age of gravity-defying, mind-blending action superheroes who can not only offload two machine pistols while running along a wall but also dodge bullets, leap from skyscraper to skyscraper and punch holes in time.
Thomas Anderson (Keanu Reeves), who goes by the hacker alias ‘Neo’, is a regular guy working in a cubicle whilst doing some hacking in his spare time.
One day he is contacted by another hacker, Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), who tells him that Morpheus (Laurence Fishburn) will be able to reveal the truth about ‘The Matrix’, a term Neo has been encountering repeatedly online.
When meeting Morpheus, Neo is given a choice of taking one of two pills; if he takes the blue pill, all will go on as it did before and he will forget about their meeting but if he takes the red pill, Neo will learn the truth and nothing, Morpheus promises, will ever be the same again.
Neo chooses the red pill and wakes up in a futuristic dystopian nightmare where machines have taken over the world, enslaved nearly everybody and created a massive artificial intelligence illusion (the world Neo knew before taking the red pill and always assumed to be real).
They do so by keeping mankind asleep and using their bodies to produce energy. But Morpheus and his small group of resistance fighters, who live outside of the Matrix, think Neo might be the prophesied “One”, who will be able to break the Matrix and restore freedom for mankind.
Meanwhile, Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) – a sentient ‘agent’ software program designed by the machines to hunt down people outside the Matrix – is trying to stop Neo from ever fulfilling his destiny.
The Matrix was the Wachowski Brothers’ love letter to anime, science fiction, and actioned-packed Hong Kong cinema, combining an intricate storyline with mind-blowing set pieces.
The film will forever be associated with “bullet time” effects, where the camera moves at regular speed through scenes taking place in extreme slow-motion.
The Matrix won four Academy Awards (Best Editing, Sound, Sound Effects and Special Effects) as well as Best Science Fiction Film and Best Director from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films.
A landmark blockbuster, which spawned two extremely disappointing – albeit technically breathtaking – sequels.
Thomas Anderson (Neo)
Keanu Reeves Morpheus
Laurence Fishburne Trinity
Carrie-Anne Moss Agent Smith
Hugo Weaving Cypher
Joe Pantoliano Oracle
Gloria Foster Tank
Marcus Chong Apoc
Julian Arahanga Mouse
Matt Doran Switch
Belinda McClory Dozer
Anthony Ray Parker Agent Brown
Paul Goddard Agent Jones
Robert Taylor Rhineheart
David Aston Choi
Marc Gray Dujour
Ada Nicodemou
Thomas Anderson (Keanu Reeves), who goes by the hacker alias ‘Neo’, is a regular guy working in a cubicle whilst doing some hacking in his spare time.
